ST MARY’S-TYNTYNDER have continued their late season revival with a comfortable first innings victory over Barham-Koondrook on the weekend, giving the Bulldogs three consecutive wins since returning from the Christmas break.
The six-wicket win also keeps last season’s grand finalists in the finals race, with St. Mary’s-Tyntynder climbing to sixth on the SHDCA A grade ladder to sit just one-and-a-half wins outside the top four with three rounds remaining.
After bowling the Raiders out for just 92 runs in the 46th over, the Bulldogs set about chasing the required runs down in a hurry, passing the visitors score in the 29th over of their innings, before pressing on to declare at 6-124.
With 21 overs remaining in the day, St. Mary’s-Tyntynder then sent the Raiders back in, with the aim of having an unlikely dash at securing an outright victory and further strengthening their chances of playing finals.
It was an opportunity that didn’t eventuate however as Barham-Koondrook would lose just two wickets to help keep the home side at bay, with St. Mary’s-Tyntynder captain Nathaniel Holmes-Brown still pleased with taking home the six points post-match.
“We wanted to see if we could roll them (Barham-Koondrook) again and get the extra points, we thought we may as well give it a go and we had nothing to lose, especially considering how important those extra points could prove to be,” Holmes-Brown said.
“It didn’t work out for us in the end, but we’re still very happy with the win and happy with the way things are progressing for us.
“We had a couple of dropped catches and another missed opportunity in the second innings which might have made things interesting, but it wasn’t to be.
“As we said last week, we just need to keep winning and keep ticking those boxes and that (Saturday’s win) was a result that just had to go in our favour.
“It certainly makes our season a lot more interesting and holds us in good stead for if we are good enough to put ourselves in the finals race, but above all it was a really good team win and one that was good to be a part of.”
It was a result that was set up by a strong performance with the ball by the St. Mary’s-Tyntynder bowling attack, with Holmes-Brown and Robin Sebastian conceding just 17 runs from the first 14 overs of the innings.
Lance Davidson (45 runs from 96 balls) was the mainstay for the Raiders, with Kynan Laursen (15) and Garry Lolicato (10) the only other Barham-Koondrook batters to reach double figures.
Sebastian (4-10 from 12.5 overs) proved to be the pick of the Bulldogs bowlers, with Holmes-Brown, Austin McKerrow and the returning Jack Shannahan all claiming two wickets apiece.
“We bowled pretty well overall, it was pretty slow going for them for a while and that’s probably a credit to our fielding and also to our bowlers for bowling nice and tight and being patient,” Holmes-Brown said.
“We knew we have the bowling attack to be able to bowl them out for as little as possible, but it was still a really, really good result.
“It’s great to have ‘Shottsy’ (Shannahan) back in our side, whether it’s with the bat or the ball he’s pretty crucial to our line up.
“In the three or four years he’s played for us, he’s won a batting and a bowling award in the A grade for our club.
“It’s always good to get players of his calibre back and it just adds to the strength of our team.”
St. Mary’s-Tyntynder will play Ultima-TUF at the Alan Garden Reserve this Saturday, while Barham-Koondrook will host Woorinen in a must-win game for both clubs.
